It is known to utilize a sliding or rotating bearing apparatus, including a bearing housing having a cylindrical opening extending longitudinally therethrough, in combination with a polymer bearing insert inserted into the cylindrical opening in the bearing housing, in conjunction with a shaft extending longitudinally through the bearing insert. Sliding bearing apparatuses of this type are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,113,275, to Blase, titled “Plain Bearing.”
Prior bearing apparatuses, such as the ones disclosed by Blase, include a bearing body having a slit extending along the entire length of its axis, and at least deformable zone, likewise extending along the entire length of the axis, to thereby allow the slit to be open so that the bearing body can be fitted to the shaft and removed from the shaft in a radial direction. Blase discloses bearing insert configurations having a plurality of projections which lock into an annular groove in a bearing housing, to secure the insert against axial movement within the housing, in combination with another projection, which engages a through-hole in the housing to secure the bearing body against radial movement within the housing.
Experience has shown that prior bearing arrangements, and polymer bearing inserts used therein, are undesirably complex to manufacture and install. For example, the bearing inserts disclosed in Blase are more difficult than is desirable to manufacture, due to the necessity for providing multiple protrusions which act individually for locking the insert against axial and radial movement respectively within the housing. Installation of the insert of Blase is also complicated by the necessity for using a two-step process, in which the protrusions which prevent axial movement within the housing are first engaged, and then, sequentially, the protrusion precluding radial motion is engaged with the housing.
The precise requirements for shape, and location of features such as the protrusions of Blase, have significantly limited the options available for molding or otherwise fabricating prior polymer sliding bearing inserts. Also, in the past, it has typically been necessary for manufactures and service organizations to carry a large inventory of differently shaped and sized bearing inserts which could typically be used only in a single application, such as a completely closed, or an open bearing arrangement.
What is needed, therefore, is an improved sliding bearing apparatus and/or polymer bearing insert, and improved methods for constructing and using sliding bearing apparatuses or polymer bearing inserts of the type typically used therein.